Saturday, September 17, 2016

For those reading the Maidenjade book, I have uploaded these maps for your enjoyment. Some of the landmarks are here and some district/street names. I hope to add to them as time goes by. If you look closely you can find The Velvet Cat Tavern and the two common entrances into the Deepdark.

Friday, August 21, 2015

This is my third watercolor painting. I think/hope that I'm improving. The most difficult thing for me is to let go and loosen up. I try to control the paint too much and that ruins the properties of the watercolor. I'm going to keep doing these portraits. If you have any suggestions for characters/scenes, let me know.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Do you believe that an author should stick to one genre?
If said author gains popularity with works of horror, should he/she only write in that genre for fear of losing the readers he/she has acquired?
Is this something an author should worry about?
If Stephen King suddenly decides to write romance, should he think twice?

I enjoy many different genres and always have numerous storylines swimming around my cranium. I write what I like. Some say I am a fantasy author. Fine. If those are the stories that grab you, please enjoy, but do not become angry if I step off into a different genre for a book or two. Or forever, for that matter.

There are those that show no interest in my non-fantasy works. Once again, fine and understood. It's those that act frustrated when I 'distract' myself with other stories, those are the ones that get on my nerves. Knock it off. I have varied interests. I love Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror. Some that fall somewhere in-between. Novels and comic books. I will continue to work on projects that I feel passionate about and hopefully someone out there will connect with it.

If not, I still have something that gives me great satisfaction, don't I?

So get ready for an Urban Fantasy/Cyberpunk/Parallel Realities/Thriller.

No, that's not a joke.

Walk with the Wind. William

PS... I am outlining a second In the Shadow of the Black Sun trilogy.

PPS... Because I want to.

PPPS... Would love to hear your opinions on the author/genre question.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

A fatal accident befalls police officer Simon Heath while in pursuit of suspected criminals. A woman and her two children are killed and Simon is injured. After lawsuits and months of rehabilitation, he finds himself with his back against a wall. Now shunned by the police force and former friends, Simon is running out of options when a job opportunity suddenly falls into his lap.

Ingheist, a university located in mysterious Fallow's Down - a veritable magnet for the weird - calls him in for an interview and odd things begin to immediately transpire. Dark splotches of mold begin to appear in his home, spreading like mad and nearly impossible to remove, the odor barely tolerable. The rules are different within the campus police force, each cop not quite normal. What unholy purpose does Ingheist have for him?

Pulled into a web of evil and losing his sanity, will Simon realize too late that he must run and run far?

Sunday, April 20, 2014

In the Morning of the World, one great forest covered the northern reaches of Kirkaldin. Autumn never came to this place, the climate perpetually warm and tropical. Into this forest, the Wind, creator of life itself, sent the Elves. He bid them thrive and bring goodness unto the land. The Elves decreed that they would do no harm to the trees, cherishing the shelter and sustenance that the trees brought to them. Such was their bond with the forest, an almost symbiotic relationship, that a strong, sylvan magic began to develop. The Elves tended to the trees, nurturing them and keeping them strong, treating the sicknesses that would occasionally befall them. In turn, the massive trees bent to their will, allowing themselves to be molded and shaped according to the needs of their caretakers. Such was the magic that the Elves developed the ability to step into the ethereal essence of the trees, literally passing physically into the trunk, traveling through this wondrous plane of existence and reappearing elsewhere within the forest. This became known as the Woodwalk.

Soon the Elves had fashioned homes within the immense trees, carving vaulted rooms and spiraling staircases within the trunks. Flame was forbidden within the forest of the Elves, but a combination of the new magic and the amber sap that served as the lifeblood of the forest gave birth to the sunglobes, crystalline orbs that gave off a natural golden light.

The Elves were a strong and righteous race, honorable and true. They married for life, the bride and groom creating a necklace from thin woven strips of wood that they wore until death. As they were a long-lived race, some couples remained together for hundreds of years, bearing dozens of children. The worries of the Elves were taken from them in a daily ritual performed by their king. Each day, the Elves would bring a blossom to the king's courtyard and place it in the fountain to float upon the surface of the water. Their sorrow and stress they put into the flower and so it passed into the pool. Every morning, the King would drink of this water, the Kingsdraught, taking the worries of his people into himself and leaving them happy and carefree.

With the coming of Man, a disagreement arose among the Elves. The first weapons were fashioned in the forest, drawn from the bodies of the trees and shaped into gracefully curving blades. Soon Man had developed weapons of metal, first copper, then bronze and finally steel. The communities of Man began to war among themselves and some factions of Elves believed that soon Man would come to the forest. Man was greedy and selfish, destroying the natural environment around them, laying waste to the trees and polluting the water. They would want what the Elves had.

The Elves soon became a divided people, those who coveted metal for the defense of their lands and those who stood by their ancient ways, the way of the wood. There came no civil war, no violent separation of their people. A meeting was held and the decision was made. With the mountains as a dividing line, the Elves of the Old Way migrated to the eastern side and their brethren to the west. In the forest of the West, soon known as Greymander, the making of metal weapons began, swords and steel-tipped arrows. Chain mail armor and sweeping helms were created as the Elven smiths grew more proficient in their new skills.

It was discovered that the metal of Man prevented the magic of the Woodwalk and soon the Elves of the west stopped using the ability altogether. In time, the mountains were thrust higher and higher by the natural movement of the landscape and the great forest became two, the western forest now called Elfwhere. There were also those Elves that felt the call of the ocean and eventually left their homes in Elfwhere to set off across the Sleeping Sea and settle in the islands far to the west. They were labeled the High Elves and in many ways became superior to the others. They were great healers and developed new areas of magic, yet undiscovered by their kin. In the High Elves, the Woodwalk soon changed, allowing them to pass through water in much the same way that those of Elfwhere passed through wood.

Many changes come with the telling of the In the Shadow of the Black Sun tale. This story is of course available at all ebook sellers. Find out what transpires by clicking the following link: The Complete Trilogy at Amazon US.